Only anti-semites think Padma on Top Chef dresses too skimpily

We can file this one in our “racial satire gone wrong” folder. (Hat tip to The Grinder.)

Andy Cohen, a VP at cable channel Bravo, recently wrote this on his blog, in response to viewer criticisms of Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi’s skimpy wardrobe:

By the way, I for one am getting a little tired of the griping about Padma’s clothes being inappropriate for the kitchen. We’ve got one of the few models who has written a cookbook and can speak with authority about food, so why not make the best of both situations!? Being Jewish, I was raised to believe that models who know about food should look as white-hot as possible while tasting and discussing food. Thus, I am hereby putting it out there that anyone who thinks Padma looks inappropriate just might be cloaking some form of anti-semitism in their comments and might want to look within instead of at Padma.

Say what?

Turns out it was a lame attempt at satire, as Cohen explained a few days later:

Here’s the deal — I am a very sarcastic person with a sense of humor that is at times a little left of I don’t know what. People have been getting upset by a joke I made on the blog the other day making light of an issue — and it has raised the ire of some Top Chef fans. (See it here.) I was attempting to answer the issue while lampooning the intensely sensitive, PC world we live in today, like a very low-rent, blog version of Borat. It didn’t work and I am sorry.

Dude, leave the satire to comedy professionals, please. And in case you were wondering, Padma is not Jewish.

Race, Culture, and Identity in a Colorstruck World

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Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves John Cho newsflashes.

Latoya Peterson (DC) is the Owner and Editor (not the Founder!) of Racialicious, Arturo García (San Diego) is the Managing Editor, Andrea Plaid (NYC) is the Associate Editor. You can email us at team@racialicious.com.